wings_of_fire_experimentalfandomcom-20200216-history
WoF D
This a project I've been mentally toying with for a bit, and I'm finally implementing it! We're going to be creating the races to be internally self-balanced. However, they won't be balanced with core races, but you probably wouldn't be playing a dragon alongside a dwarf anyway. 8P This will be for 5th edition, so go here for the Basic Rules that you can free and legally download. So, here goes! Feel free to contribute your suggestions in the comments, as well as add your own ideas directly! Here's my current ideas. They're very likely to change. NightWings Brilliant Logicians NightWing society is based around logic, intelligence, and knowledge. They view rational thinking as the noblest pursuit any sentient being can pursue. They love science, arcane magic, alchemy, engineering, history, psychology, medicine, mathematics, and countless other topics. They write their scrolls in the most technical jargon available, and it's considered a point of great pride among NightWings to have written a scroll so technical that even other NightWings require explanation in simpler terms. Paranoid Isolationists Years of war with the IceWings left the NightWings fearful. They grew more secluded and secretive. They shrouded their powers in mystique and lies. No one was allowed onto their secret island, nor even to know its locations. They worked hard to maintain this status as the most secret tribe, and they were mostly successful. They prevented their young from leaving their island until they were age 10, so as to keep their lies secure. Loyalty Before Life To most NightWings, loyalty to the tribe is the first concern, coming before everything, including one's own survival. Atrocities to aid the tribe (such as the capture and experimentation of RainWings) are viewed as unfortunate but necessary acts to benefit the tribe as a whole. In the same style, all NightWings are trained from hatching to obey orders regardless of one's own feelings. Exceptions do exist--some young NightWings who tend towards Chaos (Deathbringer, for example) refuse to follow orders and instead do as they wish regardless of what others think. Asking questions is encouraged, but once questions are answered, still refusing is seen as little more than treason. NightWing Names NightWing names are almost always either abstract concepts (such as Vengeance, Greatness, or Wisdom) or a mixture of two words (such as Battlewinner, Morrowseer, or Deathbringer.) A select few exceptions exist (such as Mastermind), but these are rare. NightWing Traits Ability Score Increase: Your Intelligence score increases by 4. As a NightWing, you have a genetic affiliation for virtually every field of academic knowledge, to a point exceeding any other tribe. Your Charisma and Wisdom also increase by 3. Your skill in psychology allows you to understand how to manipulate others and how to avoid being manipulated yourself. However, your Constitution and your Strength decrease by 3. Living on a volcano wasn't good for your health, and you were taught primarily academics, not athletics. Age: Like all other dragons, NightWings are biologically adults at age seven, and socially adults at age ten. You can live to over a hundred, but that's unlikely given how many dangers are in a dragon's life. Alignment: NightWings tend very strongly towards Law. They are virtually never either benevolent or malevolent (or are both in different circumstances), so consequently the most common alignment for them is Lawful Neutral. Most NightWings are moral relativists, logically recognizing that what one dragon sees as good, another may see as evil. Size: Like all other dragons, NightWings grow in size throughout their lives. They grow from Medium to Gargantuan, depending on what point in their life they are at. Speed: NightWings have a walking speed of 30 feet and a flying speed of 60 feet. Senses: NightWings have darkvision out to a range of 120 feet, as well as blindsense out to 30 feet. Their time spent on a volcano has selected for those who can see exceptionally well in the dark, and the ability to detect from sound and scent alone is invaluable to any predator. Fire Resistance: From living on a volcano, NightWings have resistance to fire damage. Breath Weapon: NightWings can breathe fire. You breath fire in a 30-foot cone, which does 2d4 fire damage per character level, or half damage on a successful Dexterity saving throw. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier, because your brainpower allows you to aim your fire to make it more difficult to dodge. NightWing Scholarly Research: You are proficient in Arcana and History, and your proficiency bonus is doubled for both of these skills. Years training in the NightWing schools and reading the libraries of the scrolls of the great sages has given you knowledge that almost no other dragons have access to. Languages: You can speak, read, and write Draconic and Scholar. Scholar is not a secret language, but it's hardly known outside the Night Kingdom. It's written using the same script and words as Draconic, but it has so many technical terms that most non-NightWings would find it unintelligible. Conveying magical secrets, chemical formulae, or similar ideas in Scholar takes half as long as Draconic, but non-academic speech takes four times as long. (As an analogy of how Scholar might be written, see here.) Psionics: A rare few NightWings have access to extremely potent psionic powers. When you create your character, calculate 100 - your Intelligence modifier, and roll a d100. On a roll of the number you calculated or higher, you have psionic powers. None of your psionic powers require any components to cast (rituals still take 10 more minutes, but you only need to be concentrating in that time). If you are psionic, at 1st level, you can cast detect thoughts at will, and you can communicate telepathically with any creature within 30 feet. You don't need to share a language, but the creature does need to understand at least one language. When you reach 7th level, you can cast Rary's telepathic bond once a day, but only as a ritual, and you must be one of the eight targets. When you reach 13th level, you can cast contact other plane once a day, but only as a ritual, and only asking questions about the future. When you reach 20th level, you can cast both of these at will, but still only as rituals. Adventurers: NightWings might become adventurers for a variety of reasons. Those who are of a chaotic alignment might have left to escape the confining life of a Lawful Neutral society. Those who embrace law and order might have left on express orders from their superiors to go out and build prestige and fame for their tribe, amass wealth, or destabilize enemy civilizations. Classes: Their lawful alignment, extreme intelligence, and love for arcane study all incline NightWings towards becoming Wizards, especially Diviners. They love divination foremost because it is in line with their pursuit of knowledge. Evocation is looked down upon as "uncouth," as it's seen as a use of an amazing ability for the "common" goal of destruction. Those who lack arcane talent often train as Monks instead, with the goal of making their bodies and minds approach perfection. Some become Fighters to gain martial prowess so as to crush the foes of their tribe. Many Monks and Fighters learn how to cast arcane spells through certain subclasses. NightWing society adores Wizards, loves Fighters and Monks, favors Rogues and Bards, is ambivalent towards Sorcerers and Rangers, disdains Clerics, Warlocks, Druids, and Paladins, and utterly despises Barbarians. IceWings IceWing Traits Ability Score Increase: Your Constitution increases by 2. Living in the frozen wastelands of the far north requires enormous physical vigor. Your Strength also increases by 2. IceWing combat training built up your muscles. Your Wisdom also increases by 2. Hunting arctic foxes, polar bears, and many other camouflaged creatures taught you perceptiveness. However, your Charisma decreases by 2. IceWings are often seen as unpleasant or rude, but in truth you simply aren't taught to care about social skills as much as the southern races. Age: Like all other dragons, IceWings are biologically adults at age seven, and socially adults at age ten. You can live to over a hundred, but that's unlikely given how many dangers are in a dragon's life. Alignment: IceWings tend towards Chaos, believing in freedom and a life as open as the polar ice caps you love. You don't tend either towards good or evil, as you value freedom over helping or harming others. Consequently, the most common alignment for an IceWing is Chaotic Neutral. Size: Like all other dragons, IceWings grow in size throughout their lives. They grow from Medium to Gargantuan, depending on what point in their life they are at. Speed: IceWings have a walking speed of 30 feet and a flying speed of 60 feet. Senses: IceWings have darkvision out to a range of 120 feet, as well as blindsense out to 30 feet. Living on the ice might not seem to require darkvision, but the polar night that lasts months in fact does. And being able to detect foes even behind you is invaluable. Superior Cold Immunity: From living on glaciers, IceWings have immunity to cold damage, cannot be slowed by cold-based effects, and cannot suffer exhaustion as a result of extreme cold. Heat Susceptibility: Although you are immune to cold, heat hurts you more than any other race. You have vulnerability to fire damage. Additionally, you suffer one level of exhaustion every time you finish a long rest in a climate hotter than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. This exhaustion decreases by 1 as normal after you finish a long rest, but it is immediately re-added. Additionally, no magical effect can reduce your exhaustion level below 1 until you leave the hot area. In areas over 100 degrees, you suffer two levels of exhaustion after each long rest. Arctic Experience: You have the Ranger feature Natural Explorer for arctic terrain. Breath Weapon: IceWings can breathe super-cold air deadlier than fire. You breath frigid air in a 15-foot long cone, which does 1d12 cold damage per character level, or half damage on a successful Constitution saving throw. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. Languages: You can speak, read, and write Draconic. Adventurers: The IceWing love of freedom, eagerness to gain treasure, and martial skill lead many IceWings towards adventuring. Being chaotic, they are often unpredictable, but their friendships are one of the few things they can be counted on to keep true to. Classes: Their chaotic alignment, vigor, and strength have created many IceWing Barbarians and Fighters. Their awareness of and love for nature also create many Rangers and Druids, who are almost always most at home in their native ice plains. Some IceWings with a special adoration for divine powers train as Clerics, putting their awareness to use in the pursuit of whatever being they worship. IceWing society adores Barbarians, loves Rangers and Fighters, favors Druids, Paladins, and Clerics, is ambivalent towards Sorcerers, Rogues, and Warlocks, disdains Monks and Wizards, and despises Bards. SeaWings SeaWing Traits Ability Score Increase: SeaWings have to be powerful to be such strong swimmers, and therefore gain a strength bonus of 2. However, there webbed claws make it hard to maneuver objects, decreasing dexterity by 3. SeaWings value literature of all kinds, increasing their average intelligence by 3. Their photophores, which are used to attract mates, give them a charisma increase of 2. Age: Like all other dragons, SeaWings are biologically adults at age seven, and socially adults at age ten. You can live to over a hundred, but that's unlikely given how many dangers are in a dragon's life. Alignment: SeaWings, like most tribes, lean strongly towards Law. However, some can be rather selfish and scheming, putting them more towards the neutral side of the scale. The most common alignments are Lawful Neutral or True Neutral. Size: Like all tribes, SeaWings grow throughout their life. They can range in size from medium to gargantuan, depending on their ages. Speed: SeaWings have a walking speed of 30, a flying speed of 60, and a swimming speed of 70. Senses: SeaWings have darkvision up to 240 feet, to aid them seeing in the dark ocean depths. They also have blindsense of 30 feet. Languages: As a SeaWing you can read, write, and speak Draconic. You also know Aquatic. Aquatic cannot be spoken by any other tribe, because it requires the rapid flashing of photophores. Amphibious: SeaWings can breath underwater and on land. Breath Weapon: SeaWings are the only tribe that lack breath weapons. Classes: SeaWings' lawful tendencies and great strength attract a great deal of Fighters, Monks, and Paladins. Their racial love of learning also attracts wizards, while some use their charisma to be effective bards. Adventurers: There are not many SeaWing adventurers as most prefer to stay in the security of their ocean home. Most who do leave are motivated by a thirst for knowledge or love of treasure.